The Eternal Darkness developer gets a hefty government grant to allow it to become self-sustaining...

Canadian-based Silicon Knights - the studio responsible for cult Gamecube horror flick Eternal Darkness has secured a grant worth 3 million Canadian dollars (around �2m) from the Ontario government.

The studio is set to expand significantly by employing 80 new people to take its total workforce to 177. Company president Denis Dyack also stated that the grant would allow the studio to become "self sustaining", but it isn't clear whether that means the outfit will publish all its future titles itself.

The studio has been through a mixed ride in recent years. After severing second-party ties with Nintendo in 2004, it signed with Microsoft to develop the heavily-delayed and ultimately less-than-successful action game Too Human.

Silicon Knights has always spoken warmly about the prospect of working on Nintendo consoles again, so here's hoping some of that cash goes towards 3DS and Wii U development!